People entering a home, place of worship, business or other enclosed space while wearing shoes often carry a wide diversity of substances adhered to their shoe soles. These substances are generally undesirable for different reasons. For instance, the substances can include harmful bacteria picked up in public places such as supermarkets, drug stores, public restrooms, hospitals, parking lots, streets, parks or the like, which can end up being passed onto the floor of the home, place of worship, business or other enclosed space and contaminate the enclosed space. In another example, the substances can include staining agents such as mud, oil, grease, ink or the like which can cause stains on rugs, carpets, tiles, on upholstered furniture and other applicable surfaces in the home or other enclosed space. In yet another example, slippery substances picked up on the streets and brought into a home or other enclosed space floor can cause people walking on the floor to slip and fall, with the risk of being severely injured.
In order to prevent the aforementioned inconveniences, many people require shoes to be removed before entering their homes or businesses. Moreover, it is a tradition of many cultures and communities to require shoe removal before entering a home or a place of worship, in order to maintain purity and cleanliness of such an intimate space. However, many cultures are not used to, nor prepared for, such a habit; for instance, in these cultures, people wishing to remove their shoes have to decide whether to leave their shoes outside, pile them in a corner inside the house, carry them inside and wash the soles in a sink, or throw the shoes in a washing machine every day. Understandably, none of these measures is very popular or convenient. In consequence, in many cultures people continue to walk into their homes, businesses or other enclosed spaces wearing stained or contaminated shoes, taking the aforementioned risks.
Various shoe sole cleaning devices have been developed over time to help people clean their shoe soles comfortably and efficiently, prior to entering an enclosed space or in other applicable circumstances. However, these cleaning and/or sanitizing solutions are still lacking in availability, ease of use, cost effectiveness, simplicity and true efficiency.
For instance, one known solution provides an athletic shoe cleaner in the form of a scraper brush that is carried on a person's footwear or wrist. The scraper brush is used by removing the device from the footwear or wrist and is subsequently used to scrape off and dislodge large particles or debris adhered to the sole. This known solution, while somewhat useful, presents significant drawbacks. In the first place, although the use of a brush is well known throughout history and is somewhat effective in removing contaminants from shoe soles, the scrubbing action requires vigorous physical effort by the user and frequently scatters the debris in all directions, thus causing dirtiness and contamination of the vicinity. In addition, scrubbing does not remove bacteria, chemicals and other contaminating agents that may be present on the sole.
Another known solution in the prior art is a shoe sole sanitizing device consisting of a tray having a reservoir containing a sanitizing solution, and a resilient perforated grate with scraping edges on the tray. The perforated grate is of a resiliency sufficient to be depressed beneath the upper surface of the solution when stepped on by a wearer. A drain is provided in the reservoir for removal of used solution and particles which collects in therein. In certain versions of the design, an automated fluid fill and drain system may be mounted within or on the tray. This known solution, while somewhat useful, presents significant drawbacks. In the first place, the device is generally large in size and requires a dedicated area for use. In addition, in the version where an automated fluid/fill drain device is employed, the device becomes exponentially more complex and expensive due to the plumbing-associated installation costs and due to having to meet the applicable regulatory requirements for disposal of the cleaning solution. An additional drawback is that the device saturates the sole of the shoe, and possibly the shoe upper, resulting in a soaked shoe that requires excessive drying time.
In yet another solution known in the art, a sole cleaning and drying box apparatus is provided mainly for removing the dark residue that clings to shoe and boot soles after walking and playing on some types of asphalt paving. This box apparatus can be used for various types and sizes of shoes, allowing people to clean and dry both soles in just a few minutes without having to remove their shoes. The device contains high pile, thick tufted carpet pieces on contiguous sturdy basis that serve as the cleaner and dryer elements, working well on a variety of sole indentations. Used with liquid cleaner and a little water, this arrangement allows fast, easy and effective cleaning of shoe and boot soles. A simple attachment to the box holds the lid up while the soles are being cleaned, then closes for better appearance and security. Despite being useful, this solution is not free of significant drawbacks. Mainly, this solution is a combination of the two previously described solutions, as suffers from the deficiencies of both. On one hand, the use of a brush or tufted material scatters debris over adjacent areas. On the other hand, the device is generally large and thus requires a substantial area to be dedicated to the use of the device; in addition, when used with a liquid cleaner and water, the device is likely to over-saturate the sole and possibly the shoe upper.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to provide a shoe cleaning system and method that overcomes at least one of the aforementioned drawbacks, and is yet convenient to use, and effective in sanitizing and removing contaminating agents from the shoe.